John Delcos enters his third season covering the Mets for The Journal News after eight seasons on the Yankees beat. Prior to coming to New York, John covered the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians.

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jamesd

I’m trying to look at this from a completely detached, unemotional point of view…and I still don’t understand the logic behind keeping Willie on. At best, he’s a pretty average on-field tactician, the team has demonstrated a clear lack of fire under him, and the baserunning gaffes and defensive lapses are pretty obvious indicators that he’s not drilling good fundamentals into these guys’ heads. Sh!t, the team hasn’t played good ball since last June. Why keep him on?

If it was a productive meeting, what exactly did they produce?
An improved Aaron Heilmann? A rejuvenated Carlos Delgado? A strike zone for Oliver Perez that goes from ankles to eyebrows? A clear chain of command involving manager, players, assistant GM and GM? A Mike Pelfrey living up to his first round potential?

Keeping Randolph is the right move since he deserves a full chance and you are never as bad as you look when you are losing. The team is only 2 games under .500 just 5 1/2 behind the surprising Florida Marlins (translation: they are a fluke). Plus there is no one available that really excites me as a manager.

This is a tough one. I can honestly see both sides. This is a team that has been underachieving ever since they built a big lead after last year’s great start. They have a lot of talent and should be playing better than they are. And the comments about SNY, racism .. etc. does show an insecurity that he needs to get over to be successful in NY.
I mean willie c’mon .. like isaih thomas wouldn’t be crucified no matter what color he was? And Joe torre gets a free ride?? Have you been asleep for the past 4 years? You realize torre is in LA don’t you? And he deserves free ride more than you cause he has a few championships under his belt. Not cause he is white!

Willie needs a thicker skin to survive in this town. He is a very talented manager and deserves more time. How much more time? Hard to tell. He probably should be able to at least finish the season and start the next no matter how this season turns out. Constantly changing managers is a recipe for disaster and unrest.

Interesting questions Dan. Unfortunately, we’ll never know. Did they agree they need to find a replacement for Delgado, or improve the bench or find a set up man? Or after a certain date do a dump and start building for 09/10. I’m tired of hearing people say this team is too talented. The guy’s who were supposed to be in key postions 2, 5 and 6 are all done, even tho one is in low 30s he’s still done. Two of the 5 starters are done. The two set up men, one is not back to 06 levels and one is mentally done, at least here. That’s an awfu lot of holes to say this team has “too much talent”.

I think when people say the team is too talented, they look at the Mets payroll (highest in the NL at 138 million) and assume it is directly correlated to the how good the players are. It isn’t With veteran players you have to overpay in length of contract and get stuck with poor performance the last year or two.

There was a meeting of the owners and managers, but afterward there was just a brief appearance by the managers who tried very hard not to say anything of substance while the owners made a quick getaway without saying a word.

And, this is a business which depends on the paying customers for revenue…

My understanding is they said he still the manager. not quite a ringing endorsement.
As for the team, someone on the game mentioned that the fish are a team that has played together for 4 years now. I wonder how much instability on the team is related to not playing well? this doesnt excuse jose’s terrible d. at least he bunted today.